I always tell beginning runners: Train your brain first. It's much more important than your heart or legs.

Motivation is a skill. It can be learned and practiced.

You have to want it, you have to plan for it, you have to fit it into a busy day, you have to be mentally tough, you have to use others to help you. The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape.

As runners, we all go through many transitions-- transitions that closely mimic the larger changes we experience in a lifetime. First, we try to run faster. Then we try to run harder. Then we learn to accept ourselves and our limitations, and at last, we can appreciate the true joy and meaning of running.

I run because I enjoy it — not always, but most of the time. I run because I have always run — not trained, but run. What do I get? Joy and pain. Good health and injuries. Exhilaration and despair. A feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of waste. The sunrise and the sunset.

Success does not come to the most righteous and rigorously disciplined but to those who continue running.

It's wrong to believe that you need a certain physical body type to run. All body types can run. It's not about your legs, muscles, or cellulite. It's not about the physical side of things. If you train your brain, your body will follow. It's that simple. The hard part isn't getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape.